May 26, 2011

The Badi Foundation was pleased to participate in the first “Child Poverty and Development Forum” organized by the Foreign Capital Project Management Center of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation (FCPMC) and UNICEF at Zhejiang University on May 26, 2011. The forum, which provided a space for different organizations and entities to share international and domestic research and experience on issues related to child poverty, was attended by representatives from the FCPMC, the National Working Committee on Children and Women, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Education, provincial Poverty Alleviation Bureaus, Zhejiang University, Beijing Normal University, experts in related fields and three international non-profit organizations, including the Badi Foundation. The Badi Foundation representatives learned a great deal from the presentations at the Forum and discussions with other participants.

Badi Foundation President Dr. Lori Noguchi shared a presentation at the Forum on the theme of releasing the potential of young people. Dr. Noguchi’s speech dealt with the experience of the Badi Foundation in carrying out the Junior Youth Empowerment Program, an English language and moral development program for youth aged 12 to 15, in China. The object of the Junior Youth Empowerment Program is to release the potential of junior youth to contribute to the development of their communities through enhancing their powers of expression in the English language and developing their moral capacities, including their ability to design and implement projects to serve their communities. In recent years, the Badi Foundation has been assisting community-based organizations operating in rural communities in China to implement the Junior Youth Empowerment Program.

As it is reported that China’s new stage of poverty alleviation work will further focus on the development of children and youth, the Badi Foundation is looking forward to collaborating with a variety of different organizations and agencies to contribute to the development and well being of China’s children and youth.